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Court Action An Option For Clutha Tragedy Victims

30 May 2014, 17:37

Lawyers for the Clutha disaster families say they will consider court action, if decent compensation is not awarded to them.

Lawyers representing some of the victim's families spoke out on Thursday, saying compensation offered so far had been 'wholly inadequate'; they're now telling us they'll consider court action against Bond Helicopters should the packages not improve.

Irwin Mitchell Scotland represents 17 people in relation to the incident, when ten people died and many others were injured after a Bond Aviation Group-operated police helicopter crashed into The Clutha Pub in Glasgow on November 29th.

Elaine Russell from the firm: ' In terms of a court action, it's not something the families would want, but it's certainly something we would consider should we not get wholly adequate offers'

The company confirmed yesterday that offers received from Bond in relation to the fatal cases have been rejected, but revealed its intention to continue fighting to ensure its clients are properly provided for.

Elaine added; 'there remains much appetite for answers regarding the crash, with the only official update released so far being an Air Accident Investigation Branch special bulletin which indicates that both engines lost power due to fuel starvation. However, the full chain of events that caused this to happen has not yet been determined.

She added: 'The lack of further information regarding the crash since the AAIB special bulletin is disappointing, particularly with our clients being so keen for answers and reassurances that safety improvements will be made where possible.

'We remain of the mind that the use of black-box recording equipment - such as flight data and cockpit voice recorders - could have made a huge difference in a crash of this kind, particularly allowing investigators access to key data regarding the sequence of events leading up to the incident.

'The use of such equipment would mean that high-quality data is available at an earlier opportunity, potentially meaning that victims would be spared a significant wait for answers regarding the ordeals that they and their loved ones had faced. This is why we remain convinced that a change in regulations is necessary to ensure such equipment is standard on all commercial passenger carrying helicopter operating in UK airspace'.